Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

Linebackers
Added:
Courtney Watson–MLB, 2nd best MLB available in draft
Colby Bockwoldt-WLB, 2 year WLB project.

Lost: No one, but would it matter?

SLB- Hodge played better toward the end of the season after returning from injury. He is still a young player with good upside. His time is running out though.
James Allen-Probably a better fit at the SLB than the WLB. He will push Hodge for the starting job. Only 2 years in the league so far, so he still has good upside.
Darren Smith-May surprise folks at the SLB. Probably a better player here than at MLB.

MLB- Grant and Watson will fight it out. The winner will probably be Watson since he’s played it for 3 years so far. Many thought Grant would be better at the WLB anyway. I think Haz finds a way to put both on the field.
Ruff- Above average back-up.

WLB- Rodgers is at worst average. Not great but not bad either. Look for Cie Grant to win his job by losing the MLB. The Bockwoldt kid intrigues me. From what I’ve read he has excellent skills, just not NFL strong yet. A good NFL training program may turn this guy into a player. He has the frame to add bulk without losing speed, so I’m told. I’d rather have a kid who has talent and skills, that just needs strengthening, than a strong fast kid who has no talent. But realistically a year or two away at best even if he does get stronger.

While this group is far from spectacular, they should be much better than the 2003 unit, even considering their youth. But of course how could they not be?
Probable 2004 starting line-up…
SLB-Hodge
MLB-Watson
WLB-Grant

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

Special teamer ..........

Who gets cut ????

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

Who gets cut ????

[/quote:319b2600b8]Darrin Smith (cut), Sedrick Hodge (traded), Colby Bockwoldt (practice squad)
Starters: Cie Grant (SLB), Courtney Watson (MLB), Derrick Rodger (WLB)

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

Knight, Gleason, McAfee, K. Allen, K.Craver, M.Lewis, T. Gardner ???
Who knows yet? He\'s probably practice squad.

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

I think I\'m okay with our linebackers for now. The Watson pick is one that I have to take on faith cause I just don\'t watch that many Notre Dame games. Jaws\'s comments make me feel a bit better. Can\'t say that I truly trust Haslett\'s track record with LBs. Not trying to be negative. That\'s just how I feel.

Picking up Trotter for a decent price (if that is a possiblitiy) would not bother me at all.

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

Danno are you officially highjacking this thread or are we dicussing linebackers here ??

Which linebackers are getting cut ????

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

The early guess is Smith and Knight. But if Hodge or Allen look really bad in TC, it could be one of them. They\'ll add Watson at the expense of Knight and probably send Colby to the PS.
Do you want specific dates too?

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

Here\'s what I heard:

\"Hasn\'t done squat yet, but he\'s got potential\" - insert that after every single LB you listen Danno. Great, potential has done so much for us these last few years. ;)

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

Sounds so much better than \"He sucks, and has zero potential\" though doesn\'t it.
You know, just about every single player drafted this weekend hasn\'t done squat yet, but has potential.
But I wanted to hear some negativity. Haven\'t heard enough lately. ;)

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

True - but have the results been any different over the last 3 seasons? Only thing our LBs\' potential does for the Saints is make the organization hang on to these bums too long before finally realizing that they\'re poo and giving up on them.

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

So these players have the potential for greatness when they get to New Orleans , but that level of potential is never reached once they play in New Orleans ...

Hmmmm

Sounds like coaching ..... ;)

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

EXACTLY, so what does it matter? We could have drafted Hall, Robinson, Vilma, DJ, and Eli.
My point has always been that this team has much more talent than they\'re given credit for.
Its frustrating to hear \"coaching sucks, we weed better coaches\" than a few posts later the same people are complaining our \"players suck, we need betetr players\".
I remember 08 posting 8 million times about the players we let go going elsewhere and succeeding. But now he wants to replace the entire LB unit.
What good would it do?
Wanna see Hodge, Allen, Grant, and even Ruff succeed? Give them to Monte Kiffin, or Lovie Smith, or Marvin Lewis.

[Edited on 29/4/2004 by Danno]

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

C\'mon Danno, there\'s a big difference between \"our players suck\" and \"our linebackers suck.\" We\'ve got tons of talent, no doubt. Coaching keeps it from maturing. Haz & Co. also continue to add talent in the wrong places and ignore holes in others. We could have 15 Pro Bowl caliber DEs and the statement, \"we have lots of talent on this team\" would be true, but it wouldn\'t help the linebacker or corner problems would it?

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

No quarterback in the league can throw if he\'s on his back all the time. If Jim figures we are good at corner, then we are good at corner. We just brought in a bunch a linebackers, so we can have good competitiveness at camp. I declare, Jim could crap gold coins and some of you folks would complain about his irregular digestion.

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

Its funny to see a Haslett fan .....here is my quote for Haslett \"The best thing Jim Haslett has ever done was kick Terry Bradshaw in the head\" and if you don\'t know what that means research it :D

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

I thought he stepped on it. Two sides to every story ya know...

LOL

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

Which part is the joke? The part about the coins or the the part about Jim being a good coach?

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

\"Players who don\'t play up to their potential\" - if it is (and has been for the last 2-3 years) true for any group on this team, it\'s the linebackers. They need to improve and they need good coaching and they need real live tackling classes.
I\'ve all but given up on Hodge and Allen, Watson and Grant are unproven - although I like Grant - so a starting unit of Hodge - Watson - Grant really scares me. Almost as much as the cornerback position.
I hope they give Smith a shot at OLB. Although not ideal he would make the unit better. Entering the season with Smith - Ruff (2-down-player)/Watson - Rodgers and ending up with Smith - Ruff/Watson - Grant ...

Sunshine Club LB Report!!!
 

Your correct , and probably 8 million times more if Hasbeen continues to categorize players as uncoachable and releases them from the team .

You will also see 08 complain about leadership from the MLB position .

Sometimes at some point in a teams structure a single figurehead player emerges from the leadership position and can push players past their own limitations and the current teachings of the coaching staff . Such a player is Ray Lewis .

Until that player is found , get used to it ..... ;)